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A spinning VR gaming chair sounds like it would be an at-home vomitron. The virtual reality environment tends to make some people (like me) queasy as it is, so adding synchronized full-body rotation seems like a recipe for disaster. I was kind of prepared for the worst when I decided to try out the $800 Roto VR Explorer at CES 2025, which uses a head-tracker that attaches to the top of Meta Quest devices and other headsets to make a swivel chair turn in whatever direction youre looking. But against all odds, I ended up having a pretty good time. In addition to enhancing the experience of seated VR gaming, the chair is actually supposed to help with issues like motion sickness, because, according to the press materials, the signals from your inner ear will match what your brain is expecting from the visual cues. Still, I was a little nervous, and it didnt help that as we approached the booth, the first thing we saw was an empty chair spinning on its own in the corner like an omen. The Roto VR Explorer is a Made for Meta product, meaning its optimized for Quest, but itll work with standalone headsets like those in the HTC Vive family and soon the Apple Vision Pro. The chair itself weighs 66 pounds, so it felt really sturdy to sit in, and it has a rumble pack under the seat to bring haptic feedback to the rest of your body instead of just in your hands from the controllers. The head tracker, which looks like a flattened Poké Ball, clips onto the top strap of the headset. After the Roto team gave me the rundown and got me set up in the chair with a Quest 3, I selected my VR experience the 2018 interactive documentary about the universe, Spheres and got going. It was, without a doubt, a little weird at first when I turned my head to follow the path of rippling auroras and felt my body rotate as if I were a spice jar on a lazy Susan. But for the most part, it didnt have that disorienting feeling of the ground shifting underneath you. (It was definitely lagging a bit on the congested show floor, which did lead to some out-of-sync, jerky movements). It only took a minute or so for me to stop focusing on the fact that I was in motion and just go with it. Jessica Conditt for Engadget For something like Spheres, where youre just sort of moseying through beautiful visuals and curiously interacting with the virtual environment, the Roto VR Explorer is actually really nice. If youre in a faster-paced setting, like a first-person shooter, its only going to ramp up the tension. I tried turning my head quickly to the side back and forth a few times to see how it would work with that sort of movement, and it really goes when its running smoothly. The chair moves at max speed of 21 revolutions per minute, but you can reduce this with the controllers if that gets to be too much. I fully expected to be doing a lot of deep breathing to get through the demo, but there actually never was a point that I felt nauseated. And when I got up out of it and reentered real life, I didnt feel any more wobbly-legged and confused than I usually do after spending time behind a headset (though Im sure using it for a few hours straight would change that). I'm mostly just relieved I didn't throw up in front of a bunch of strangers. There are plenty of situations in which a person might want or need to do their VR gaming sitting down, and the Roto VR Explorer chair offers a pretty fun way to bring the immersion to another level. Its available for purchase now, with upgrade packages including Pro Flying and Pro Racing expected to follow in August 2025. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/this-spinning-vr-chair-at-ces-2025-somehow-didnt-make-me-feel-like-throwing-up-133040191.html?src=rss
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Ex-employees of Annapurna Interactive who quit en masse last year have reportedly found their next project. According to Bloomberg, the team is taking over the games and franchises of Private Division, a former Take-Two label that published indie games. A new enterprise that doesn't have a name as yet is said to have been formed and it appears that some of the remaining 20 or so employees of Private Division will be laid off as part of the transition. Take-Two said in November that it had sold Private Division (which published The Outer Worlds and physical copies of Hades) to an unnamed buyer, reportedly a private equity firm called Haveli Investments. Haveli is said to have brought in the former Annapurna employees in recent weeks and handed them the keys to Private Division's portfolio. That includes an upcoming cozy life sim based on The Lord of the Rings called Tales of the Shire, the Kerbal Space Program series and a new project from Game Freak, which is best known for making Pokémon games. The entire Annapurna Interactive staff quit last summer after discussions to spin out the publisher from parent company Annapurna Pictures fell apart. The company then set out to replace the team. Annapurna has a stellar track record in the indie realm, having published a string of highly regarded games such as Stray, Sayonara Wild Hearts, What Remains of Edith Finch, Cocoon and (slightly confusingly) Outer Wilds. So theres reason for optimism that its former staffers can do great things with the Private Division portfolio. Fingers crossed that this also somehow portends a future for OlliOlli and the brilliant Rollerdrome. Both were developed by Roll7, a now-shuttered studio that was under Private Divisions umbrella.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/former-annapurna-interactive-staff-are-reportedly-taking-over-publisher-private-divisions-game-portfolio-133033714.html?src=rss
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AI companions are taking a dramatic leap forward in gaming, with NVIDIA and Krafton introducing the first "co-playable character" (CPC) for PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds. This AI teammate, announced at CES 2025 and dubbed PUBG Ally, goes beyond traditional scripted behaviors to communicate naturally with players, share strategic advice and adapt to dynamic battlefield conditions. Unlike conventional AI co-players that follow rigid programming, these companions can independently gather resources, operate vehicles and engage in combat while using game-specific terminology that makes interactions feel authentic.The technology powering the co-playable characters is NVIDIA ACE. It uses small language models optimized for quick decision-making so AI co-players can process their environment, plan actions and respond to changing situations much like human players would. The innovation stems from a strategic collaboration between Krafton's Deep Learning Division, established in 2022, and NVIDIA's expertise in AI technology. The way PUBG Ally balances autonomy with collaboration acting independently but remaining responsive to player input and team needs reflects a shift in human-AI interaction in other fields. AI systems aren't simply replacing human tasks but rather augmenting human capabilities, whether assisting physicians in diagnosis while adapting to unique patient cases or, in software development, understanding project context and suggesting coding solutions while still working within a developer's overall vision and strategy.
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